At least 52 people have been killed in 24 hours of violence between indigenous protestors and the Peruvian army in a dispute over land rights in the Amazon rainforest
30 native Amazon protestors were killed along with 22 members of the security forces as violence erupted over plans to bring foreign companies to the rainforest to open mines and drill for oil.
The bloodshed has prompted widespread calls for President Alan Garcia to quit and has underscored divisions between elites in Lima and the rural poor.
President Garcia has criticised the protestors, saying they had attacked their own country, acted like terrorists and may have been incited by foreigners.
A fierce critic of leftist leaders elsewhere in Latin America, Mr Garcia did not say which foreigners he was referring to.
The army has imposed curfews, but thousands of Indians armed with spears have vowed to dig in at blockades along remote Amazon highways and keep protesting if government forces do not halt efforts to break up their demonstrations.
'We are fighting because we fear our land will be taken away,' said Denis Tangoa 38, a protestor at one blockade.
About 10 police officers kidnapped by protestors were killed and nearly two dozen freed when troops moved in to end a hostage crisis last night.
In a clash on Friday, 11 police died when they broke up a roadblock, about 1,400km north of Lima.
At least 30 protestors were killed in that incident, according to Champion Nonimgo from AIDESEP, Peru's leading indigenous rights group.
